Public Health Leadership for Sustainability

Welcome!

The Public Health Specialty Training Curriculum (2015) reflects the central importance of sustainable development to health and the role of public health professionals in driving change, requiring trainees to “demonstrate leadership in environmental sustainability with a focus on the links to health and climate change”.

Course description

This interactive course equips public health professionals with leadership skills for environmental sustainability within and outside the health and care sector.

The course offers an overview of the relationship between public health, the health sector and the climate and ecological crises. How is the health system both vulnerable to and contributing to climate change and ecological degradation? What would a sustainable health system look like? What might the wider public health benefits be and how can we achieve this?

This interactive 3 part course helps public health professionals to develop leadership skills for environmental sustainability within and outside the health and care sector. Drawing on real-life examples, the course explores how to incorporate environmental sustainability into public health programmes and hone advocacy, partnership working and strategy development skills.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course you will be able to:

Describe the risks the global environmental crisis presents to public health.
Understand
- mitigation and adaptation efforts and their potential health co-benefits.
- the principles of sustainable development.
Identify carbon hotspots and understand the basic principles of carbon footprinting.
Recognise what is distinctive about leadership in sustainability.
Plan and appraise service developments with reference to the triple bottom line of sustainable value.

Course Structure

Part I. Self-study online -Interactive online materials covering all course content, illustrated with case studies, presented in bite-sized modules. The course is flexible to your interests and available time; a condensed version can be completed in under 2 hours using the module summary pages, whilst the full course contains 8 hours of more in depth study. A discussion forum allows you to reflect on your learning and share thoughts and ideas with fellow learners. A short video on the home page outlines how to navigate the learning platform and obtain your certificate of completion. The learning materials are available to you from the point of booking and for 6 months after your workshop date. You can see a table of contents for the self study materials here.

"Really good overview of the main issues, well structured, with clear public health relevance. I enjoyed the breadth of it and helped me to think about sustainability in a more holistic way".

"It was informative and easy to understand and follow. Having everything laid out so clearly -- a mixture of text. diagrams, graphs, videos helped bring it to life and keep concentration. It really helped me consolidate my knowledge and feel prepared for the workshop".

"Being able to come to the workshop having read about the topic and had time to digest it and think about how I could apply it to my area of work. That time for reflection was very useful".

"I appreciated the links to useful short videos I can also share with others. I would appreciate long term access to the course, as I feel it's a resource I will want to come back to in my career".

Part 2. Live workshop online - The 4 hour virtual workshop consolidates your understanding of the course materials and then focuses on helping you develop ideas for a sustainability project in your setting; translating your learning into action through small group discussions with CSH experts and colleagues from around the world using the range of resources and tools. A separate certificate of completion is provided for the workshop.

"I liked that the discussions were grounded in projects and tying into areas we can immediately effect and apply into our work".

"I liked the opportunity to network with other trainees. Definitely the examples were the most inspiring and felt practical too".

Part 3. Mentoring

After completing the self-study materials and online workshop you are invited to attend our online Sustainable Healthcare Cafés. The 2 hour cafes occur regularly throughout the year and offer ongoing support for you to put your learning in to practice. They are a friendly, informal setting in which to:

Get support for sustainability projects from peers and CSH staff
Make connections with others bringing sustainability projects into their workplace

You are welcome to continue attending the cafes as many times as you wish. Upcoming dates are available here ( link to sus HC café page) and will also be emailed out to you with your certificate of completion after the workshop.

For more detailed information about the health effects of climate change, see the Faculty of Public Health Special Interest Group on Sustainable Development's factsheets.

What future do we choose?

Human health is inextricably linked to the health of the earth’s natural systems, which create the air we breathe, the food we can grow, the proliferation of diseases and much more. This complex set of relationships is sometimes referred to as ‘planetary health’ and is increasingly recognized as a critical perspective in health improvement and protection. Since 1980 global greenhouse gas emissions have doubled, and human activity has removed about half the wild birds, mammals, fish, invertebrates and insects on our planet. The health implications of this are clear, and terrifying, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic starkly demonstrates this. Individuals, organizations, and movements across the world have called a climate emergency to respond. There is a huge amount to do and we are all needed. There are many important ways to make a difference and this course is a starting point for this exploration.

Along with colleagues around the world, we too ask, What Future Do We Choose?